Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS was released today and it includes some interesting changes, like a complete overhaul of the MATE Welcome user interface, a new panel layout option in Ubuntu MATE Tweak, which mimics Unity with a dock-like panel and global menu setup, and more.

Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS video

Below you can watch a quick video which shows some of the new features / changes in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS:

Changes in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus)

Ubuntu MATE, the Ubuntu flavor that became official with its 15.04 release, uses MATE, a GNOME 2 fork that lets you use the old GNOME 2 desktop interface, with support for both old (like the old Gedit 2 which was forked as Pluma, or Nautilus 2, which was forked as Caja) and new (header bar) applications.

Ubuntu MATE 16.04 ships with MATE 1.12, which includes changes such as:

fixes and improvements for GTK3 support across the entire MATE Desktop including GTK 3.18 support;

improved session management which now includes screensaver inhibition while playing media;

extended systemd support.

Those are just the changes in MATE desktop. Ubuntu MATE 16.04 ships with quite a few other improvements. For instance, Synapse, a popular quick application launcher, is now installed by default but it's not active (it can be enabled using MATE Tweak, under Interface > Enable launcher):

Another new default package is MATE Dock Applet, a configurable MATE Panel applet that can display open windows as icons:

TopMenu Applet, the applet that can be used to add a global menu on the MATE panel, is now installed by default. It's not used by default though so if you want to use it, right click the panel, select "Add to panel" and add "TopMenu" or use the new Mutiny panel layout from MATE Tweak:

This global menu implementation supports GTK2 and GTK3 applications only (it doesn't work with Qt applications, among others).

Probably the most important applications user experience-wise in this Ubuntu flavor, MATE Welcome and Ubuntu MATE Tweak have received significant improvements.

MATE Welcome:

complete overhaul of the user interface, with applications separated in a "Software Boutique" section. It includes a expandable/collapsible "More Details" section for each application, which provides screenshots, source (repository), website, platform and license information;

added System Specifications page;

added detection of graphics card (including VirtualBox) including one-click enablement of the graphics-drivers PPA if Nvidia is detected;